About a thousand years after everybody (in the whisky reviewing world, which I’m trying to put a foot in, reviewing a whisky two years after the others might feel as a late as being a thousand years late with the sheer speed of releases that pop out during the time I write an introduction or ask a question), I finally got my hands on a bottle of That Boutique-y Whisky Company‘s World Whisky Blend. At RRP. And I’m especially happy to have succeeded in getting one, because since its release in 2019, their brand ambassador, the award-winning cigar and pipe smoking glorious beard growing World Whisky Blend by the case gulping Dave Worthington must have drunk a third of its outturn. So finding a bottle two years after its release in one of the La Maison Du Whisky shops in Paris was surprising and deeply appreciated. So let’s pop the cork out (and break it immediately), let’s get a Glencairn, and get on with the review. Oh wait…
Is a Glencairn the right glass?
Usually, whenever I drink a whisky, I’ll grab a Glencairn glass, especially since I’ve had custom engraved ones made, with the beautiful logo of this humble blog. But as I discussed recently about this whisky with my friend Dave, just after I opened the bottle and had a first dram out of it, I told him how surprised I was seeing its rating on Whiskybase. I won’t tell you right now his answer. Let’s keep that for later. After all, I’m supposed to keep you here reading for even longer than me asking questions, right?
But his answer got me thinking (yeah, which goes to show everything can happen, even the really unexpected and unlikely). What’s the best glass for drinking a dram of this World Whisky Blend. Well, to drink it neat, as I won’t go into drinking it how it was conceived to be drunk: in long drinks with mixers. I’m not that professional. And I’m not really into cocktails anyway, I wouldn’t recognise a cocktail recipe if it slapped me in the face. So let’s stay on glasses and neat whisky.
Usually, a whisky reviewer will use a Glencairn, or a tulip-shaped glass, or a copita-shaped glass. Sometimes even a 1920s professional blender’s glass. But always the same one, to have a common point of comparison. Why those glasses and not a tumbler or a plastic cup or whatever? Because those glasses are made for concentrating the aromas of a whisky. In short, the shape of the glass influences how the gas in the glass moves in and above the glass. And the tulip shape or the copita shape will enhance what you can nose out of the whisky. But to know more about the glassware and how it works, I’ll let you go to iLaddie‘s fantastic nerdy blog, for example go read all he wrote about whisky glassware.
Now for this World Whisky Blend review, I didn’t grab all the different kinds of whisky glasses I have at my disposal. I have a couple different tulip-shaped with a foot glasses, copitas, Glencairns, the 1920 Blender Glass, and a few others. For the sake of keeping this review short and not be drunk by the time I had written it, I selected to keep a tumbler, a Glencairn, and the 1920s blender glass. I poured the drams in all three glasses at the same time, with no hat over them, and probably a good half hour before I started nosing them since I was writing this before. Probably should have nosed and tasted them first, then wrote after, but it will have to do.
World Whisky Blend Review
That Boutique-y Whisky company’s World Whisky Blend is a… yeah, you guessed it from its name. And probably one of the longest named whiskies. This blend, made by Atom Brand’s Sam “Dr Whisky” Simmons, uses different kinds of whiskies (malt, grain, rye) from all over the world: Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, USA, Switzerland, Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Germany (Bavaria), France, Japan and Finland. I won’t paraphrase all what they write about how Sam Simmons and Boutique-y made it to be drunk seven different ways, for that, I encourage you to go read the WWB’s page on TBWC’s website. It’s bottled at 41.2% abv, uncoloured and unchill filtered, and a 70cl bottle will cost you about £30 to £33 in the UK, but I paid €39.50 for it in a La Maison du Whisky shop in Paris. And some German shops list it for less than €30. So jealous of those prices the Germans have. Please note that for that price, you get here a 70cl bottle, while usually Boutique-y releases are in 50cl bottles. That’s 40% more whisky in the bottle, yay!
Colour:
Straw.
Nose:
In the tumbler: I get feint fresh fruits notes, but not much else. In the Glencairn, the fruity notes are more concentrated. There are some Bourbon notes, with honey and vanilla and caramel, and some orange marmalade and apple pie. In the 1920s blender’s glass, the aromas are a bit more concentrated, and you can add to the notes from the Glencairn some rum and raisin ice cream, gentle sweet spices and a bit of malt. Maybe some lime too.
Palate:
With the tumbler: you get a nice mouthful of whisky immediately. The arrival is sweet and a bit spicy, with the liquid arriving in the front of the mouth, on the first half of the tongue at first. Fresh fruits (apple, pear, peach), honey, caramel, some floral notes, and a slight sourness in the background. Maybe also some menthol. With the Glencairn, the liquid arrives slightly more in the middle of the tongue, so it feels at first slightly less sweet than with the tumbler. But after moving the liquid around in the mouth, it’s about the same. Feels strangely slightly spicier, though. Finally, with the 1920s blender’s glass, while the whisky seem to arrive in the front of the mouth, it feels less sweet and less fresh at first. Maybe prickly sugar, the one that pops on the teeth.
Finish:
With the tumbler: a bit of wood, fresh fruits, honey, with a medium length. With the Glencairn and the 1920s Blender’s: same as with the tumbler.
Comments:
While the tumbler is definitely not the right glass for nosing, but we kind of knew that already, it’s the glass I enjoyed drinking out of the most for this blend. Then the Glencairn, then the 1920s blender’s glass, which is a pain to drink from with it’s narrow opening. To nose the whisky, though, the tumbler is dead last, while the Glencairn did well and the blender’s a bit better than the Glencairn. The Glencairn will probably stay my usual go-to glass, but to enjoy a dram without thinking too much of it, just kick back, relax and enjoy sipping an affordable and flavourful whisky, the tumbler is really appropriate.
Now what about the whisky itself? Well, it really doesn’t deserve the low rating on Whiskybase. It’s full of aromas and flavours, it’s fresh, it’s a great summer dram, in my opinion. Uncomplicated to enjoy while complicated in its recipe. But we don’t care how complicated it was to assemble. Only Sam Simmons does! Now I really enjoyed this whisky, it’s bang for your buck, and my next pours will go into a tumbler. And by the way, I emptied my Glencairn and Blender’s glasses into the tumbler to finish drinking what I had poured for this review.
Oh about Dave’s answer to the Whiskybase reviews? Well, I’ll let you ask him directly 😀
This drivel is delightful! I got to sample just 1×30 ml dram in a glen cairn. I had bought (at a discounted $150 Cdn) the whiskey boutique advent calendar with 24 different drams and was a bit disappointed (at first) with day 3s offering of “world whisky blend” and no more info of where in the world the whiskeys in the blend came from etc…. But in the end was surprising delighted with the product and your very thoughtful write up. Much appreciated. I am a wiser man now